Civil law remedies for domestic violence: why are applications for non-molestation orders declining?

No longer a civil matter? The design and use of protection orders for domestic violence in England and Wales

“…Since the 1990s there has been increasing criminalisation of domestic violence, echoing a shift from its perception as a 'private' matter between applicant and respondent, to a 'public' matter, in which the police are automatically expected to play a role (Hester 2006, Burton 2010. There has been a parallel shift towards blurring the boundaries of criminal and civil law remedies and the development of hybrid civil-criminal remedies.…”

“…Whilst there are articles and inspection reports which review or evaluate specific orders (Hester et al 2008, Platt 2008, Kelly et al 2013, HMICFRS, 2017, there are few which assess the overall coherence of the protection order regime, especially looking across civil and criminal processes. Moreover, articles which do address the overarching picture tend to be either non-recent (Burton 2010, Edwards 2001, Hitchings 2005, or outside the English and Welsh context (Capshaw and McNeece 2000, Burgess-Proctor 2003, Douglas 2008, Van der Aa 2012.…”

“…Several studies in England and Wales between 2008 and 2010 suggested an initial downturn in use of NMOs following the criminalisation of breach (Hester et al 2008, Platt 2008, Burton 2010). Platt found a 15-30% decrease in applications for the orders across six county courts in the six months following implementation, and judges across the country reported an 'immediate and sharp drop in the number of applications' (Platt 2008, p. 643).…”

“…She found a similar picture, with LSC certificates for funding dropping in the year post 2007 implementation of the changes to NMOs. All these papers point to a range of reasons including confusion amongst police, judges, solicitors and victims' agencies in adjusting to the new regime, lack of availability of legal aid, but principally suggest it may reflect a reluctance of victims to criminalise their partners (Platt 2008, Hester et al 2008, Burton 2010).…”

“…Non-molestation orders made in England andWales, 2003-2018. Justice data show an overall increase in non-molestation orders since 2007, reversing the downward trend up to that point ( Figure 2 and Table 1). This suggests that concerns that more NMO applications would be contested once breach was made a criminal offence (Hitchings 2005, Burton 2010 have proved unfounded. It may be that the initial drop in NMOs following criminalisation of breach in 2007 reflected teething difficulties with implementation.…”